Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt is due to make a decision on the massive coal mine that would destroy Bimblebox Nature Refuge by this Friday, the 20th December.

We urge all Bimblebox supporters to call Greg Hunt's office or drop him an email this week, to let him know that there is a big number of Australians out there who don’t want to see this mine to go ahead.Phone: (02) 6277 2276 or (03) 5979 3188 orEmail: Greg.Hunt.MP@aph.gov.au

The Black-throated Finch is a small (up to 12cm), sleek and stocky bird. It has a thick, black bill and a black eye line which makes them appear to be wearing wrap-around sunglasses. They have a pale blue-grey head, cinnamon-brown body, black tail and black bib which extends down to the breast, earning them the nickname Parson Finch. Photo: Annette and Ray Sutton. Source: http://www.blackthroatedfinch.com

Bimblebox threatened by a plan to build largest open cut mines on earth

The peaceful refuge that is Bimblebox is threatened by a plan by mining billionaire Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal to build the Galilee Coal Project (formerly known as ‘China First’).

The Environmental Impact Statement outlines a proposal to extract 40 mega-tonnes of coal per year.

The coal would be transported on a yet-to-be-built 468km rail line up to Abbot Point and shipped through the Great Barrier Reef on its way to China where it will be burnt for energy generation.

The ambitious and polluting plan has not yet received formal government approval, which means there is a still a chance to stop it.

It is outrageous and absurd that in the 21st Century, with all that we know about Australia’s biodiversity crisis and the threat of climate change, that a protected area rich in biodiversity and with carbon stores intact could be sacrificed for the sake of producing more climate changing coal.

Are you looking for a unique Christmas or birthday gift that also helps preserve on of Queensland's most precious nature reserves?

Long time Mackay Conservation Group supporter, Maureen Cooper, has made these beautiful brooches and stuffed toys of the birds and insects found at the Bimblebox nature reserve. You can have your own for only $20, and all of the proceeds go the fight to save Bimblebox from Clive Palmer's China First mine.

Pictured right is a Kingfisher, and there are three species of Kingfisher at Bimblebox – Sacred, Forest and Red-backed.